Quick service restaurants (fast food businesses) can be very challenging to manage. Three influencing factors directly determine the success, or failure, or a QSR restaurant. These are: customers (sales), inventory, and labor. Of these three items, managers on a day-to-day basis have the most control over the labor. Through labor, managers control costs, turnover, and schedules for staff members. This is why labor management for quick service restaurants is so important.
What goes into labor management for quick service restaurants?
First, restaurant managers must make sure that enough staff members are on site during busy hours, but managers must also be careful to cut staff when expected need begins to drop. Scheduling the right number of employees in a quick service restaurant is a constant challenge.
Second, with a busy food service business, managers don’t have time to babysit the time clock to watch workers clock in or out at the right time. Riding the clock (clocking out early or late) can have disastrous effects on the bottom line for the business. The losses add up quickly over time.
Other common labor management problems for a QSR business include:
- Schedule updates and communications
- Changing availability of staff
- Inexperienced / young staff members
- High turnover
- Buddy punching
- And more…
It’s important to note that over scheduling the restaurant will reduce profits with a bigger payroll. On the other hand, under scheduling staff might cause customers to go elsewhere, thereby reducing income.
Skillful scheduling of staff members for your QSR restaurant isn’t easy. In fact, it can be time consuming and tedious. Luckily, with the right tools, it doesn’t have to be.
TimeForge turns labor scheduling and attendance monitoring into a simple management task. By doing so, it gives you back your weekends and increases profits, while keeping staff delighted and reducing turnover in your restaurant. TimeForge prevents buddy punching, riding the clock, and reduces overtime.
Read more about TimeForge QSR software, staff scheduling, and labor management for quick service restaurants.
TimeForge will reduce turnover and improve retention while freeing up manager time and making your quick service restaurant more profitable! TimeForge employee scheduling and labor management software is used by owners and operators of QSRs, as well as other hospitality, food service, and retail businesses around the world.
